Last March, while attending the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament in Las Vegas, I almost got caught up in the Madness. After taking in Utah’s improbable overtime win over the Cal Bears, my wife and I were walking through the MGM Grand to meet some friends for dinner.

As we strolled through the casino floor, still caught up in the excitement, we came upon the Sports Book when my wife exclaimed, “let’s put some money on Utah!”. Imagining the possibilities of a #10 seed advancing to the Big Dance, we got in line to throw down our wager, when all of a sudden I remembered, “I can’t do this”. For a split moment, March Madness took over my thought process and I narrowly avoided a preventable mistake.

NCAA rules prohibit all athletic department staff members and student-athletes from gambling or wagering anything of value on any NCAA sporting events. This includes any NCAA tournament games, brackets, and pools.Continue reading →

Please allow me to introduce Brittany Cantrell, an extremely valuable addition to our Herbst Academic Center staff. Brittany will serve in a new position as the Tutor Coordinator with her primary responsibilities centered around scheduling and recruiting activities. She will work daily 8:00AM – 12:00PM and can be reached at tutoring at colorado dot com. If canceling or changing appointments, you should continue to send requests to canceltutor at colorado dot com.

Brittany graduated from CU with a degree in Psychology in 2009, and earned her Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Argosy University in 2013. Prior to returning to CU in 2013, Brittany worked as a case manager and therapist at the Mental Health Center of Denver. Brittany played Division I basketball in California before transferring to CU, where she focused solely on academics. She enjoys traveling and spending quality time with her husband and two Boxers.

This week there will be new time sheets for the tutoring program. With the addition of Tutor Tables, the Math Lab, and the Writing Lab, this new time sheet will better catalog the hours that tutors log. In the sample time sheet provided below, the fields have been populated with hypothetical information to provide a guide to properly complete each time sheet. The red ink denotes the fields that the tutor should complete.

The time sheet is divided into two sections. The top section contains four boxes, each representing a different Tutor Table. There is room for a maximum of four students per table. The bottom section is where the tutor should log individual sessions and Math/Writing Lab shifts. If a tutor should exceed the number of Tutor Table boxes, or spaces for individual/Lab sessions, a new time sheet should be started.

When totaling a time sheet, add the “Total Time” of each Tutor Table session and the “Total” of each individual lab session, then place the sum in the “Total Hours” space at the bottom-center of the time sheet. Finally, sign and date the time sheet then submit in the box outside my office door.

Each student-athlete has the federally protected right to privacy concerning their education records under the Federal Education Rights to Privacy Act (FERPA). This includes grades, test scores, quiz scores, attendance habits and other course results related to performance.

Every year the Herbst Academic Center asks the student-athletes to sign an academic release which allows our full-time staff to discuss their academic progress with each other and their respective coaching staffs. This release does not cover the act of tutors, learning facilitators, or study hall monitors sharing information with each other or anyone outside of the Herbst Academic Center. Therefore, all part-time staff including tutors, learning facilitators and study hall monitors are NOT to discuss a student’s academic progress with members of the coaching staff. Additionally, a student’s performance should not be shared with the staff members of any other department in athletics.

Furthermore, part-time staff should maintain confidentiality with any information obtained in the course of their duties in the Herbst Academic Center. If questions or concerns should arise please visit with an Academic Coordinator or Kris Livingston, Associate Athletics Director/Student Success.

NCAA Rule 13.02.12 Prospective Student Athlete

A prospective student athlete (also known as “prospect” or “PSA”) is any student, regardless of athletic ability, who is in the 9th – 12th grade. Men’s basketball also includes 7th and 8th graders. These individuals will remain a prospect until one of the following occurs (whichever occurs earlier):

The student registers and enrolls full-time at a four-year institution

The student practices or competes at a four-year institution prior to enrolling for their first semester term

The student registers and enrolls and attends summer classes prior to their initial enrollment

Tutor Interaction with Prospects

You are allowed to tutor prospects; however, you should not initiate the contact with a prospect being recruited by our institution at the request of one of our coaches or staff members. CU Athletics staff should never ask you to tutor a prospect under any circumstances.

You should charge prospects the standard rate for your services. Prospects, especially those being recruited by CU, should not receive any discounts or special deals.

The same restrictions on extra benefits for current student-athletes also applies to prospects. Do not provide prospects with extra benefits – this may include cash, meals, gifts, transportation, etc.

In your conversations with prospects, you are not allowed to talk about CU Athletics, it’s coaches or staff members in a recruiting manner. Likewise, you are not to serve as a conduit for delivering recruiting materials back-and-forth between coach and prospect (i.e. game film, correspondence, exchange of contact information).

When marketing your tutoring services to prospects in the private market:

You should not use the CU Athletics logo in your materials

You should not make any specific reference to CU Athletics

You not use direct quotes from prospects or current student-athletes for testimonials (it is OK to use student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility)